Reviews – Page 601 – Wonderbox Metal

The Kennedy Veil – Trinity Of Falsehood (Review)

This is the second album of Brutal Death Metal from US band The Kennedy Veil.

This is modern state-of-the-art Death Metal blistering with aggression and serrated to the touch. They are so contemporary it almost hurts; but there is no Djent in sight nor are there any breakdowns. Instead we get pure unadulterated razor-sharp Death Metal; fresh, focused and utterly singular in its murderous intent.

Completely stripped of fat, frills and in a tip top lean fighting condition; these eleven songs tear, rip and batter all-comers into bloody heaps and then look around hungrily for the next victory.

The band are no slouches in the playing department and the songs are endlessly brutal in a very satisfying way.

Concise rhythms and relentless percussion assault the jaded mind sparking long-forgotten passions and dreams. In a slumber of Death Metal bands going through the motions the energy and vigour of a modern Death Metal group like The Kennedy Veil is exactly what is needed. If this is the future then the future is bright.

Squash Bowels – Grindcoholism (Review)

Polish Grindcore band Squash Bowels have released their sixth album upon an unsuspecting world.

Every time I hear Squash Bowels they sound a little different. Tnyribal was different to The Mass Rotting – The Mass Sickening, which is again different to this. Of their albums in the middle of these releases I can’t judge as I haven’t heard them. Grindcoholism though is a very groovy brand of Grindcore, albeit still with plenty of blast to give Grind fans a good beating.

I really liked Tnyribal, and was disappointed with the more primitive incarnation on The Mass Sickening – The Mass Rotting. On Grindcoholism they have changed again; now sounding more muscular, direct and immediate.

This is enjoyable grind with relatively varied vocals and a good, solid sound; the drums in particular seeming to destroy anything they batter, while the thick Regurgitate-esque guitars swamp and cover everything in entrails.

As an aside; Squash Bowels remains one of my favourite band names ever. Just had to mention that.

Grindcore infused with a hardcore-groove while still steeped in the blood of countless victims. As extreme music goes it’s well worth a blast from the speakers, and a pleasant surprise for me to see how they’ve developed over the years since I last heard them.

Hangatyr – Elemente (Review)

Hangatyr are from Germany and play Black Metal rich in melody.

Appearing out of the mist like a creature from some long-forgotten Germanic myth; Hangatyr prowl and stalk their prey with a surety born of ancient times.

This is cold Black Metal; born of the frigid wastelands and honed in frozen storms. Each song drags you deeper into the world of frost and ice, struggling for air as your lungs fill with needles of pure winter.

This is an extremely well-written album that reminds of the masters of the genre while simultaneously sounding as fresh as if it was straight out of the frozen tomb. The guitars may be chilled but they describe a rich tapestry of texture and ancestry. Hangatyr are clearly aware of and living up to their Black Metal heritage.

The vocals are watery shrieks, as if they have newly thawed and are breaking into the light for the first time in millennia.

The sound is great, the mood is great, the songs are great, it’s just a great album. A wind-scarred revelation.

Our Last Enemy – Pariah (Review)

Our Last Enemy play Industrial Metal and this is their second album.

Coming off as a modern Metal band with industrial elements and keyboards the band peddle their aggressive brand of music with passion and fortitude.

If you take all of the heavy bits of early-noughties bands like Spineshank, Slipknot, Downthesun, etc. and take out pretty much all of the clean singing you’ll have a reasonable starting point for Our Last Enemy. Plus guitar solos.

The industrial and atmospheric parts of these songs are more subtle and understated than you might think, the main emphasis instead on the heavy guitars and scathing vocal attack. With enough double bass and blasting drums to ensure the listener knows they mean business, the guitars churn and turn their way through the songs while the singer barks out vicious diatribes.

Each song contributes to the whole and on the final analysis this is an enjoyable album that has a perhaps surprising amount of depth to the compositions.

Endemise – Far From The Light (Review)

This is Canadian Death-infused Black Metal from Endemise and this is their second album.

The band combine the heaviness and brutality of Death Metal with the Blackened atmosphere and symphonics of a band like Dimmu Borgir. Alternatively; imagine a band like Behemoth; now tone down the Death Metal and increase the presence of keyboards – you’re now in the right area that Endemise inhabit. Bands like Alghazanth and Gloria Morti are also good examples.

The songs manage to weave in between these two genres with ease, although they stray mainly into Black Metal territory for most of the album. They might be blasting away full of fury before a keyboard flourish changes their tack and all of a sudden they’re going all grandiose and orchestrated.

True to the rest of the album the vocals fluctuate between high-pitched shrieks and lower growls.

Although a little rough around the edges in places this is an enjoyable album with a few really good moments that they can build on for the next release.

Burning Full Throttle – No Man’s Land (Review)

Burning Full Throttle are a Hungarian Stoner Rock band.

The singer has an amazingly gruff voice, like he’s been swallowing wasps or something. It’s rough and ready to rock.

The music is fuzzy and smells of the desert; this is Stoner Rock through and through. It’s only a short album, full of songs around the 3:30 mark, but catchy riffs and catchy vocals are part and parcel of every song. As the album cover suggests; music to drive to.

In some ways there’s not much to say about an album like this; you either like this style of music or you don’t. If you do then you should have no problem getting on board with Burning Full Throttle.

Voidhanger – Working Class Misanthropy (Review)

Black/Death Metal with a Thrashy edge from Poland. Or Thrash Metal with a Blackened Death edge. Either way it’s a bit of a killer.

The first thing you notice is the granite-heavy sound and the utter crushing demolition job that goes along with it.

The songs are mainly fast and pounding but they also have good taste in their choice of slower riffs. This is quality Metal that’s pretty much half-Black and half-Thrash with an extra helping of Metal.

Chock full to bursting of Old-School riffery with a vague Punk air; these are class songs that know they’re good and can afford to have a cocky swagger about them.

The vocals have a lot of character and individuality. Think of singers such as those of Celtic Frost, Venom, Usurper, Cathedral, et al who manage to infuse their voices with both aggression and personality; the singer of Voidhanger is of their ilk, and it really works wonders.

This is a quality Metal album with a crushing sound that’ll have you reaching for the bulletbelt and spikes faster than you can say “blastbeat”.

Mephistopheles – Sounds Of The End (Review)

The first thing I have to note is how great the album cover is. Brilliant stuff.

Mephistopheles are Australian and play Technical Death Metal with interesting riffs and personality.

The instruments are clear and what they play is not your average Death Metal. Lots of ideas and playful experimentation with the genre norms are apparent in the riffs and patterns they use.

Sounds Of The End is very exploratory and guitar-based, with the guitarists seemingly searching for that perfect riff yet always being dissatisfied with what they find so they almost immediately change tack and go hunting for it elsewhere. Meanwhile the drums, bass, (yes it’s audible), and vocals rush to keep up, only by the time they’ve got there the guitars have already moved on two or three times to pastures new.

The guitars seem to jump from one place to another sometimes, always on a quest to find the next, more unusual riff or melody. A full album of this could sound messy, but they also know when to lock into a melody when the song necessitates.

The vocals are varied, going from grunts to shrieks in the space of a few seconds sometimes; matching the eclectic and diverse music. Unexpectedly for this kind of Metal we also get some spoken word and even the odd clean passage, just to keep us on our toes.

This is an elaborate and complex album that doesn’t sound like your typical Technical Death Metal band. It may be of that genre but it has more originality than most and largely succeeds in going its own way. A daunting but rewarding listen.

Decomposed – Devouring (Review)

Decomposed are a Swedish Death Metal band.

Devouring is rooted in the Old-School and the band have a fair grasp of what makes a compelling record from back then.

Reminiscent of many from that era in Swedish Death Metal history, (Dismember, Grave, Unleashed, etc.); they pile them all into a pot, boil them alive and use the remains to create an enjoyable album of putrid riffing and foetid tones.

Decomposed take a methodical approach to their slaughter; slicing through flesh and hacking off limbs with efficiency and glee. They do take the time to smell the corpses however, as evidenced by the slower and more introspective parts of the songs.

The guitars roll and heave, while the drums smack down hard and the vocalist roars with all of his might. A passion for Death Metal is clear from the start and combined with a good ear for songwriting it makes Devouring a solid listen.

The more I listen to this the more I enjoy it. Get yourself a healthy blast of Old-School Swedish assault and listen to Decomposed.

Suffering Hour – Foreseeing Exemptions to a Dismal Beyond (Review)

Suffering Hour are from the US and play high-energy Old-School Death Metal with elements of Thrash and even a tiny bit of Black Metal straight out of the Venom school.

Immediately from the first song Truths of the Unknown it’s clear that the band give their all to the music and they have plenty of ideas they want to include in their songs as well.

The riffs and melodies used are interesting and not simply genre-rehashing; and the variety of musical influences, (Vader, Morbid Angel, to name just two), that can be heard mean the songs hold interest with ease and before you know it the 29 minute running time is over.

The songs are written well with a good grasp of structure and pace. The tracks vary in length from the relatively short to the longer 8:35 of Enthralled in Lunacy Abyss, which shows that Suffering Hour are not afraid to do what they want and play the kind of Death Metal that pleases them without pandering to anyone else. As it should be.

The vocals are top quality and range from screams to deep growls, with plenty of range shown between the two.

They also have an instrumental song named Prog Thrashing Death which does exactly what it says on the tin.

The production is generally competent and has a very organic sound, however I feel it’s slightly uneven in places and could do with being slightly stronger for their next release. This is only a minor quibble though as it does the job well enough.

The quality and breadth of content in these songs should be envied by most Metal bands and this EP is a huge success for me. For such a young band to have found their musical footing so early on and produced a quality EP with such personality and individuality is a wonderful thing.

This really is fantastic. Support this band as they could go far in the world of Extreme Metal.